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  <section id="build-command">
<span id="command:build_command"></span><h1>build_command<a class="headerlink" href="#build-command" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<p>Get a command line to build the current project.
This is mainly intended for internal use by the <span class="target" id="index-0-module:CTest"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../module/CTest.html#module:CTest" title="CTest"><code class="xref cmake cmake-module docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CTest</span></code></a> module.</p>
<div class="highlight-cmake notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">build_command(</span><span class="nv">&lt;variable&gt;</span>
<span class="w">              </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="no">CONFIGURATION</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">&lt;config&gt;</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="w">              </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="no">PARALLEL_LEVEL</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">&lt;parallel&gt;</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="w">              </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="no">TARGET</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">&lt;target&gt;</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="w">              </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="no">PROJECT_NAME</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">&lt;projname&gt;</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="c"># legacy, causes warning</span>
<span class="w">             </span><span class="nf">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Sets the given <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;variable&gt;</span></code> to a command-line string of the form:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>&lt;cmake&gt; --build . [--config &lt;config&gt;] [--parallel &lt;parallel&gt;] [--target &lt;target&gt;...]
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>where <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;cmake&gt;</span></code> is the location of the <span class="target" id="index-0-manual:cmake(1)"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake.1.html#manual:cmake(1)" title="cmake(1)"><code class="xref cmake cmake-manual docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cmake(1)</span></code></a> command-line
tool, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;config&gt;</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;parallel&gt;</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;target&gt;</span></code> are the values
provided to the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CONFIGURATION</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PARALLEL_LEVEL</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TARGET</span></code>
options, if any.  In CMake versions prior to 4.0, a trailing <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--</span> <span class="pre">-i</span></code>
option was added for <a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-generators.7.html#makefile-generators"><span class="std std-ref">Makefile Generators</span></a> if policy <span class="target" id="index-0-policy:CMP0061"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../policy/CMP0061.html#policy:CMP0061" title="CMP0061"><code class="xref cmake cmake-policy docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CMP0061</span></code></a>
was not set to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">NEW</span></code>.</p>
<p>When invoked, this <a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake.1.html#cmdoption-cmake-build"><code class="xref std std-option docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cmake</span> <span class="pre">--build</span></code></a> command line will launch the
underlying build system tool.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">Added in version 3.21: </span>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PARALLEL_LEVEL</span></code> argument can be used to set the
<a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake.1.html#cmdoption-cmake-build-j"><code class="xref std std-option docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--parallel</span></code></a> flag.</p>
</div>
<div class="highlight-cmake notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">build_command(</span><span class="nv">&lt;cachevariable&gt;</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">&lt;makecommand&gt;</span><span class="nf">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>This second signature is deprecated, but still available for backwards
compatibility.  Use the first signature instead.</p>
<p>It sets the given <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;cachevariable&gt;</span></code> to a command-line string as
above but without the <a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake.1.html#cmdoption-cmake-build-t"><code class="xref std std-option docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--target</span></code></a> option.
The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;makecommand&gt;</span></code> is ignored but should be the full path to
devenv, nmake, make or one of the end user build tools
for legacy invocations.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>In CMake versions prior to 3.0 this command returned a command
line that directly invokes the native build tool for the current
generator.  Their implementation of the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PROJECT_NAME</span></code> option
had no useful effects, so CMake now warns on use of the option.</p>
</div>
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